


Forgiven

by speedycanary



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DCTV, Laurel Lance - Fandom, Sara Lance - Fandom, Thea Queen - Fandom
Genre: Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Sisters, Team as Family, malcolm only mentioned, sara only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 21:09:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12093480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedycanary/pseuds/speedycanary
Summary: Thea feels terrible after finding out that she was the one who killed Sara, and only Laurel's comfort can make her feel better. (platonic)





	Forgiven

**Author's Note:**

> I know this doesn't exactly follow the canon story (i.e. Laurel and Thea weren't living together this early on in the plot, Malcolm didn't reveal it was Thea who had killed Sara in this way) but this was just a short thing I wrote and thought I'd share.

She walked through the graveyard, like she had so many times before. Like she used to, in the year's following the Gambit's sinking before her sister had returned; and like she had during the previous few weeks, since her sister's body had fallen from the rooftop in The Glades and practically fell into her arms.

This time, though, Laurel was here for a very different purpose. She needed to find the one who had shot the arrows into her little sister's stomach, the last person Sara had seen before falling to her death. Someone Laurel had considered a sister for a long time now too.

It was hard to pinpoint who in the room had been most shocked as the video played before them. As Oliver, John, Felicity, Thea, and Laurel herself all huddled in front of one computer screen, they all watched in suspense as Malcolm Merlyn's voice boomed from the screen.

He'd claimed he'd known who did it, who'd killed Sara. He'd said that this video, that he'd sent to the team, would reveal who it was. They hadn't much believed Merlyn, but they'd all agreed there was no harm in watching the video anyway.

None of them had been prepared for when the footage of Sara's murder began to play. A hooded figure, in scarlet red, shot the arrows. Laurel had to hold back the tears as she watched her sister; take her final breathes, her final words. The video had no audio but it was easy to see that Sara recognised the killer.

Felicity prepared to facially scan the video to find the identity of the killer, as they turned around - only to find a facial scan was unnecessary. An all too familiar face was revealed to the camera.

Thea.

For a moment, the room was silent. Everybody was stunned at what they'd just seen, unable to believe it.

One by one, Thea felt all eyes on her. She too was unaware of what had just happened. She'd had no recollection of this moment; of standing on the rooftop, drawing her bow, or of plummeting the arrows into the gut of someone she'd once called a friend - but it'd happened, the video proved that.

Her heart in her mouth, and as a mix of panic and confusion set in - Thea fled.

Now, in the graveyard, it'd been almost twenty-four hours since Laurel had last seen Thea, and it was her who was feeling panicked. The younger girl hadn't come home to their apartment or called to let them know she okay.

Laurel knew she wouldn't be okay. She knew Thea would blame herself, that she'd be beating herself up for it. Wherever she was.

She'd been almost everywhere she could think that Thea might be, and the graveyard was the next place on the list the team had drawn up to search at.

Hopefully, Laurel had thought, that if Thea felt bad, which she would, that she'd head to Sara's grave - to talk, to apologise, or just to hide - and hopefully, she'd still be there.

Laurel had been right, as she saw Thea across the grass and headstones. 

Thea was perched on a bench that was placed just a few metres away from Sara's grave. Even from as far away as she was, Laurel could see that Thea was uncomfortable; shaking, upset.

It was late, and though the darkness was only just settling around the gravestones and trees that made up the cemetery, the area had already succumbed to the cold breezy air.

Thea didn't notice Laurel approaching until they were only a few metres apart.

"Laurel..." she said, standing up. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be here. I'll go."

The older girl shook her head, and sped up a couple of steps so to catch Thea up.

"Wait, Thea." Laurel reached for Thea's wrist, grabbing it gently so that Thea would have to slow down and face her. "Sit, please."

Thea turned to face Laurel, but avoided eye-contact as she did so. She'd expected Laurel to be mad, even though she knew better of her friend. She'd expected her to hate her, like Thea had hated herself, ever since she'd seen what she'd done.

Laurel sat down on the bench, "no more running, okay?" She pat her hand to the side of her on the bench twice, inviting Thea to join her.

Reluctantly, the brunette placed herself on the bench too. They sat in silence for what felt like minutes to Thea, but was really only a few seconds.

Laurel had been anticipating this moment for the last twenty-four hours, but still was unsure of what to say.

"So," she began, asking a question she hoped she didn't already know the answer to, "last night, where did you stay?"

Thea stayed silent, and continued staring blankly ahead of her, to the gravestones.

Laurel continued, concerned. "Did you, y'know, stay out? Did you sleep on the streets?"

"It's okay." Thea shrugged, indirectly answering her question. "Besides, there wasn't much sleeping done."

A wave of guilt flood over Laurel, she'd let Thea run out after watching the video, she'd let her stay out here all alone, even though she knew how dangerous it could be out late at night, especially in The Glades.

Thea had no coat or jacket, merely the thin shirt that she'd been wearing yesterday. Though she herself was chilly, Laurel removed her overcoat and wrapped it over the other girl's shoulders. If she'd been out here for the last day, she must've been freezing.

Thea was confused. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" Laurel furrowed her eyebrows.

"Giving me your coat, being nice to me." She paused, "I don't deserve that."

Laurel shook her head, before facing Thea.

"'Cause we're friends," she obviously knew what Thea meant, she was asking why she was here with her after what had happened. "And I was worried about you."

Looking down, Laurel could see Thea's hands together, one hand anxiously picking the skin back from the other. It was a habit Thea had used to do more often, when she'd first moved in with Laurel, not too long after she'd returned from Corto Maltese with Malcolm Merlyn. Thea must've noticed Laurel staring, as she now stopped.

"But why? After-" she hesitated, "after what I did?"

Laurel sighed, "you didn't do anything, Thea."

"I don't-" she tried to calm herself, trying hard so not to give into the tears that had been welling up in her eyes. "I don't remember doing it, and I- I don't know how, but I did it, Laurel. You saw the video."

"No. No, no, no. No." She muttered, shifting herself to face Thea. "You didn't see the end, you di-" 

"I saw what I needed to." She cut Laurel off.

"After you left, Merlyn explained what happened." Laurel looked at the younger girl's sad face, her eyes red and puffy from where she'd clearly been crying before, but her eyes were also glistened over, a group of new tears threatening to escape. "There's this drug, called Vitura, or something like that. It makes people under the influence of it susceptible to suggestions, it's powerful enough that it controls them."

Thea creased her eyebrows, tears beginning to shed.

"He drugged you." Laurel went on, "Thea, Merlyn drugged you; he controlled you."

Thea was shocked. "But it was still me, Laurel." She broke down, the first tear following in an unbroken stream. "I'm so sorry!" 

"You didn't have control!" Laurel slid herself closer to Thea, now their legs only a few centimetres apart from one another. "It wasn't you, Thea!"

Thea was trying to control her tears, to comprehend what she was hearing.

She didn't understand how someone who claimed to love her, even if it was Malcolm Merlyn, could do this - how he could make her kill a close friend for no apparent reason.

Laurel noticed Thea's small hands, which were once again being used as a weapon to the other hand - harshly picking skin from one another to relieve as much stress as they could.

Looking up once more at Thea and then back down to her hands, Laurel used her own hand to scoop one of Thea's in it; stopping the picking and bringing Thea back to the conversation they were having rather than the battle she was having in her own head.

Carefully, Laurel intertwined her finger's with Thea's. The rest of her body still shaking, her fingers had gone warm, and sweaty, clearly induced by the nerves that were caused by everything going on.

"But-but why?" Her friend's comfort calming her down slightly, Thea tried to make sense out of the situation, out of what Merlyn had done. "Why would he-I'm his daughter!"

"And Tommy was his son, Thea, I don't know." Laurel wanted to hold her, to protect her, she couldn't imagine how she was feeling. "But what I do know, is that this wasn't you're fault."

"But-"

Thea glanced up, making eye-contact for the first time since Laurel had got here.

"No, Thea." She sighed. "I know that it's not the same thing, but I know what it's like to be under the influence of a drug - to not have control." She used her unoccupied hand to wipe away the tears that she had just realised she had shed. "But that's exactly the thing, Thea. You don't have control. You didn't. You were powerless to it."

"But Merlyn - he's my father, my birth father." Thea sniffed, her nose stuffy from crying. "What if I'm like him? Maybe this was just the first step to me being more like him."

Shaking her head calmly, Laurel slid her hand out of Thea's hand, but only so that she could cup Thea's cheek in it instead. "Look at me, okay? Look-"

Thea nodded, and looked right at Laurel as she spoke to her, her face being held lightly in her hand.

"Did you want it to happen? With Sara?" Laurel asked an obvious question.

"No." Thea responded. "Of course not!"

Laurel smiled slightly for a moment, "exactly. So you're not like Merlyn, Thea. Not at all. You never will be, you hear me? Never."

"I'm sorry." Thea said quietly, barely even as a whisper.

"It wasn't your choice and it wasn't your decision." Laurel moved her hand to Thea's hair, stroking it gently and letting the loose brunette strands slide between her fingers as she patiently let the younger girl reply.

Thea continued to nod, "I know- I just mean- I'm sorry for leaving. Yesterday, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Don't worry about that, it's forgotten, okay?" She was glad Thea was no longer hysterical, and seemed to get the message. "As long as you know what happened with Sara wasn't you, or your fault. Okay? I don't think that and I definitely don't want you thinking that."

Thea smiled weakly, "thank you."

Returning the smile, Laurel pulled Thea closer to her, embracing her cold and fragile exterior into her arms.

"Love you." Laurel added, the other girl's arms still wrapped around her.

"I love you too." Thea felt warmer, and safe. She was grateful.


End file.
